David Campbell (poet)
David Watt Ian Campbell (July 16, 1915 - July 29, 1979) was an Australian poet who wrote over 15 volumes of prose and poetry. Life Campbell was born at Ellerslie Station, near Adelong, New South Wales. He was the third child of Australian-born parents Alfred Campbell, a grazier and medical practitioner, and his wife Edith Madge, née Watt.Kramer (2006) In 1930, Campbell went to The King's School, Sydney, and in 1935, with the support of the headmaster, he enrolled at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1937. He continued to play rugby he excelled at school. His studies in English literature developed his interest in poetry. Campbell returned to Australia from Cambridge in 1938 and on 6 November 1939 joined the Royal Australian Air Force. He had learned to fly while at Cambridge and went to train as a pilot at Point Cook. He served in New Guinea, where he was injured and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and flew bombing missions from Darwin in the Northern Territory. Campbell married Bonnie Edith Lawrence on 20 January 1940 at St John's Anglican Church, Toorak, Melbourne. They had two sons (including John) and a daughter, but were divorced in 1973. In 1946, he settled on a family property, Wells Station, near Canberra, and in 1961 he moved to Palerang, near Bungendore, New South Wales. In 1968, he moved again to The Run, Queanbeyan, New South Wales. On 18 February 1974 Campbell married Judith Anne Jones in Sydney. From May to September 1975 they travelled in England and Europe, his first trip abroad since his Cambridge days. He had many literary friends. These included, in addition to poet and editor, Douglas Stewart, historian Manning Clark, poet Rosemary Dobson, writer Patrick White, and poet and academic A.D. Hope. He was interested in painting, golf and polo, and was a keen fisherman, an activity he often shared with Douglas Stewart. Manning Clark has written about aspects of his friendship with David Campbell. Campbell, wrote Clark "was an enlarger of life, not a straitener or measurer, or a life-denier" the key to him being found in "the two books he re-read each year: The Idiot by Dostoevsky, and The Aunt's Story by Patrick White.CMH Clark. The Quest For Grace. Penguin Books Ringwood 1990, p 216. "He was the war hero, the victor in the boxing ring, the strong man in the rugby scrum, the fisherman, the horseman, the polo player who knew all about Myshkin from The Idiot and Theodora Goodman from The Aunt's Story. I saw him knock out a man in the bar at Delegate for casting doubts on his manhood. The next morning I saw him cast a fly with such delicacy that it landed on the waters of the Snowy River with the grace of a butterfly." David Campbell died of cancer at the Royal Canberra Hospital. Writing While Campbell had a few poems published in Cambridge journals between 1935 and 1937, his poetry didn't start appearing regularly in print until 1942 when he started sending poems to The Bulletin. Six were published by 1944. It was in these years that he first became known to Douglas Stewart, with whom he formed a long-standing friendship. These early poems dealt primarily with war, but from 1946, after his move to Wells Station, "his poetry became more closely attuned to the realities of the countryside". Kramer writes that "his daily life as a grazier, his acute observations of the natural world and his deep understanding of European poetry gave him a distinctive poetic voice, learned but not didactic, harmonious but not bland, vigorous but finely tuned". The following are representative examples of his use of European and Asian (haiku) poetic forms to capture the contemplative experience of the Monaro plains. "For now the sharp leaves On the tree are still And the great blond paddocks Come down from the hill."'In Summer's Tree' in David Campbell, Collected Poems. Leonie Kramer (ed) Angus & Robertson. Sydney 1989 p 33 "See how these autumn days begin With spider-webs against the sun, And frozen shadows, fiery cocks, And starlings riding sheep-backs."'Against the Sun' in David Campbell, Poems. Edwards & Shaw. Sydney. 1962. p 10. "The powdered bloom along the bough Wavers like a candle's breath; Where snow falls softly into snow Iris and rivers have their birth."'Snow Gums' in David Campbell, Collected Poems. Leonie Kramer (ed) Angus & Robertson. Sydney 1989 p 35. "White snow daisies spring, Snowgums glint from granite rock, Whitebacked magpies sing."'Bikinis' in David Campbell, Collected Poems. Leonie Kramer (ed) Angus and Robertson. Sydney 1989 p 122. As well as writing poetry, Campbell also edited several anthologies, including the 1966 edition of Australian Poetry and, in 1970, Modern Australian Poetry. He also wrote short stories, and became known for the support he gave to young poets. Recognition Awards *1968: Grace Leven Prize for Poetry for Selected Poems 1942-1968 *1970: Henry Lawson Australian Arts award *1980: Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for Man in the Honeysuckle Mullion Park In November 2007, Mullion Park was officially opened in Gungahlin in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The park is located in an area which incorporates what was once Campbell's property at Wells Station. The original paddock boundary is marked by a line of remnant eucalypt trees and the original fence by ceramic tiles inlaid with barbed wire.Jon Stanhope (November 2007) The name of the park comes from the book of poems, The Miracle of Mullion Hill, which Campbell wrote when he lived at Wells Station with his family. It was published in 1956. The park honours Campbell, "not for his work as a grazier, nor for his dedication to the Royal Australian Air Force, in which he served and was wounded as a pilot in World War II, but for his lyrical poetry about love, war and the Australian rural life".Florez (2007) At the opening of the park, Chief Minister of the A.C.T., Jon Stanhope, said that Campbell is "often called the poet of the Monaro" and that his poetry "reflects the local landscape and was greatly influenced by his life as a farmer of the surrounding countryside". The park incorporates excerpts from his poems, embedded in wooden pedestals and on pathways. It is intended to connect residents of Wells Station to the heritage of the region and provide a cultural as well as a recreational retreat. Publications Poetry *''Speak with the Sun. London: Chatto & Windus, 1949. *The Miracle of Mullion Hill. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1956. *Poems. Sydney: Edwards & Shaw, 1962. *''Selected Poems, 1942-1968. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1968. *''The Branch of Dodona, and other poems, 1969-1970. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1970. *''Starting from Central Station: A sequence of poems. Canberra: Brindabella Press, 1973. *''Devil's Rock, and other poems, 1970-1972'' . Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1974. *''Deaths and Pretty Cousins'' . Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1975. *''Encounters'' (pamphlet; illustrations by Henri Matisse). Canberra: Open Door Press, 1977. *''Words with a Black Orpington''. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1978. *''Selected Poems''. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1978. *[http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poems-book/the-man-in-the-honeysuckle-0355000 The Man in the Honeysuckle: Poems] . Sydney: New South Wales, 1979. *''Collected Poems'' (edited by Leonie Kramer. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1989. *''Hardening of the Light: Selected poems''.Charnwood, ACT: Indigo, 2006. *''Song for a Wren: Country poems and images'' (photos by John Peel). Blackheath, NSW: Writelight, 2009. Novel *''Strike''. Sydney: Pandanus Books, 2006. Short fiction *''Evening under Lamplight''. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1959. *''Flame and Shadow: Selected stories''. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1976. *''Evening under Lamplight: Selected stories of David Campbell''. St. Lucia, Qld, & New York: University of Queensland Press, 1976.Search results - au:David Campbell, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 20, 2014. Non-fiction *''The History of Australia'' (stories & poems; illustrated by Keith Looby). Sydney: Macleay Museum, 1976. Translated *''Moscow Trefoil: Poems from the Russian of Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam'' (with Rosemary Dobson). Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1975. *''Seven Russian Poets: Imitations''. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1979. Edited *''Modern Australian Poetry''. Melbourne: Sun, 1970. Letters *''Letters Lifted into Poetry: Selected correspondence between David Campbell and Douglas Stewart, 1946-1979'' (edited by Jonathan Persse). Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Australian Poetry Library.David Campbell (1915-1979), Australian Poetry Library, Web, Mar. 3, 2012. Audio / video Sound recording *''David Campbell Reads from His Own Work (1975) See also * List of Australian poets References *Florez, Catalina (2007) "Poet becomes part of the landscape" in ''The Canberra Times, 2007-11-29, p. 9 * *[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130398b.htm Kramer, Leonie (2006) "Campbell, David Watt Ian (1915 - 1979)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition] Accessed: 2007-11-30 Notes External links ;Poems *"Men in Green" *David Campbell at AllPoetry (6 poems) * David Campbell at PoemHunter (7 poems) * David Campbell (1915-1979) at the Australian Poetry Library (635 poems) ;About *David Campbell in the Encyclopædia Britannica *David Campbell in the Oxford Companion to Australian Literature] * Campbell, David Watt Ian (1915–1979) in the Australian Dictionary of Biography * [http://sarsaparillablog.net/?p=321 Reviews of Hardening of the Light: Selected poems & Letters Lifted into Poetry] ;Etc. * Papers of David Campbell in the Australian National Library Category:Australian poets Category:Writers from New South Wales Category:1915 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Category:Writers from the Australian Capital Territory Category:People educated at The King's School, Parramatta Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets